Intellectual Property

Intangible assets, whether brands, designs, content, technology or innovation, are fundamental drivers of success for our most exciting and fastest-growing clients. We understand that protecting, enforcing and exploiting those assets in the constantly changing marketplace is a business critical priority for you.

Our intellectual property team has an established track record in providing strategic advice at the highest level on all forms of IP. We span the core European jurisdictions and are equally comfortable coordinating global or EMEA IP strategy as leading frontline enforcement on the ground in our home jurisdictions. We understand that your IP strategy does not stop at the borders of any one country or region and are committed to providing commercial advice in a global context. Our overriding goal is to apply our legal expertise and commercial knowhow to procure the strongest long-term outcome for your business.

Many of our clients have hugely complicated intellectual property portfolios and are fighting numerous IP disputes on multiple fronts at any one time. We are used to advising on highly complex matters and work alongside our clients' own people as trusted members of the team.

Given our expertise, our advice is valued particularly highly by brand and innovation driven businesses in the Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Life Sciences and Retail sectors. Our experience working at the cutting edge of business informs everything that we do and enables us to help you protect and grow the value of your intangible assets.

Notable deals / highlights

Currently providing global legal support on the rebranding of one of the world's leading professional services businesses, including coordinating over 650 new trade mark applications in over 130 separate jurisdictions.

Acting for Telenet in its defence against patent infringement claims concerning the Electronic Programming Guide employed in its digital TV services.

We successfully represented US companies Fleischer Studios and Hearst, who own the rights to the well-known cartoon character Betty Boop, in proceedings for trade mark infringement and passing off in respect of the production and sale of unauthorised merchandise in the UK. The trial took place in January 2014 and the Defendants were all found jointly and severally liable and a pan-European injunction has been granted to restrain the Defendants' activities

Acting for Vestergaard Frandsen, a multinational disease control company, in long-running technical trade secrets litigation in the UK concerning secret chemical formulas for long lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. After establishing breach of confidence in the High Court, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal, a substantial inquiry into damages is now pending to be heard in June 2014. We are also assisting in parallel proceedings in France and India that are intertwined with the UK litigation.

Representing Eli Lilly & Company in a long-running dispute against Human Genome Sciences. The first action represents the primary UK authority on the law of industrial applicability and was the first IP case heard by the Supreme Court. There is a second action concerning the interpretation of the Supplementary Protection Certificate Regulation, which has been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling.